I was listening to the news the other day and heard that the Governor of this state is ordering flags to be flown at half mast - for some local soldiers that were killed. In a training accident.

....
I'm reminded of the "Great Loyalty Oath Campaign" in Joseph Heller's "Catch 22". In it, everyone is running around signing loyalty oaths, singing the Star Spangled Banner, and generally acting like a nudnick just to get served breakfast.

Everybody's trying to appear more patriotic than the next guy.

Don't they know that there's a protocol that used to be followed? For a flag to be flown at half mast - it's traditionally only for military officers of above Secretary of each branch of service - and for Speaker of the House and up....At least that's what I always thought ------

I've never been much for taking pride in being the member of a group. Whether it is an ethnicity, a nation, or a belief system. I personally don't get it. Something I earned on the other hand, such as being an alumnus of my university, or a member of my group of friends. That I can take pride in, just a little.

As an Air Force Desert Storm veteran, I find the fetish over servicemen to be disturbing. We did our jobs. Nothing exalted about it. Killing people (or supporting those who did the killing, as was my experience) is nothing to glorify. And dying is one of the risks.

One of my fellow firefighters died in January of 1990, in a training fire. Did he give his life for his country? Hell yes. Was he a hero? Hell no.

All these folks wanting to exalt the veterans coming back with limbs missing and minds wracked by PTSD would serve those veterans better by either enlisting, so as to relieve the pressure of constant rotations, or voting for politicians who refuse to dance to the bugle of war.